We are a little less than a year out from what promises to be a huge moment in the sports media industry – the launch of ESPN’s Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) streaming offering.
The ESPN DTC option, for now dubbed “Flagship,” will be a game changer for the network as it hopes to combat the significant challenges of cord-cutting and declining revenues.
But it’s clear from ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro that the Flagship offering is not simply about providing a DTC streaming option to gain lost revenue, it’s also a transformational platform for ESPN moving forward. Pitaro spoke at a Columbia University conference this week and pledged “significant product enhancements” meaning that ESPN DTC subscribers will not only get all of ESPN’s networks at their disposal, but a whole lot more.
Via Front Office Sports:
The flagship, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN will not be a mere streaming service, insists company chair Jimmy Pitaro, but rather a distillation of all the company’s various offerings and capabilities.
Already the most pressing initiative for not only ESPN, but perhaps parent company Walt Disney Co., the forthcoming offering will feature a wide variety of enhanced features, including multi-screen viewing, full integration with ESPN Bet, ticketing, and merchandising, fantasy content, user personalization, and advanced statistics, among others. The existing ESPN+ will also be available within the flagship ESPN streaming service.
“It’s not just about flipping the switch [and making the network available direct-to-consumer],” Pitaro said, appearing Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference. “When we do this, it will come with significant product enhancements. Yes, you’ll be able to get all of our networks. But the shoulder experience around the video will be much more interactive and it will be much more personalized. … I could go on and on, but we have an army of engineers and designers on all of this right now.”
ESPN is putting so many eggs into the direct-to-consumer basket that they will have to make a big first impression, especially considering other major initiatives from ESPN in the past year have failed to make the impact that Bristol would have hoped for. ESPN Bet has not really gotten close to competing with the FanDuel-DraftKings duopoly in the sports betting space. And their planned joint streaming venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, Venu Sports, is currently blocked from launch due to a court injunction and facing significant legal hurdles.
That could include even something like an AI-generated personalized version of SportsCenter.
ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro discussing potential AI enhancements to programs like Sports Center. He says he’d like a custom program recapping his favorite teams (Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, Giants) but also his “second favorite team: whoever is playing the Red Sox”. A hater’s channel.
— Sara Germano (@germanotes) October 10, 2024
It might just be Flagship or bust for ESPN. The streaming service is due to launch in August 2025 before football season begins next fall.
